Due to popular demand, here is the section to discuss everything to do with our pets. Please remember though to post any queries regarding pet livestock in the livestock section as you are more likely to get the right response there!

I ask this question because i have a rescued Chihuahua cross (no idea what the other half is...).

I live in China, which is not the most sanitary place. The chinese have only started keeping dogs as pets recently (please...no eating stereotypes. That's only in certain provinces). So...i worm my dog every 6 months unless she's been staying somewhere else (when i go away she has to go and stay with people who love her!!). If she's stayed somewhere else, i will worm her when i get back, 3 months after and then 3 months after that, depending on how long she stayed elsewhere.

For example: I go back to the UK for 2 months in the summer, so she goes to stay with my friend's family. They are really nice people, and they adore her as much as she adores them. The look after her well, feed her with the food i leave (i told them that she can't eat human food) and take her out for walks and stuff. However...one of their neighbours, and one of the extended family also have dogs. They are not fed dog food, and not looked after as we would look after a dog. So i'm worried that they may pass on worms to my little furball.

Is this safe? Or am I sending her to an early grave? I've got European worming treatments - Lopatol (500mg nitroscante). she gets 1 tablet every worming time.

She's perfectly healthy. I've had dogs all my life, so i know what to look for if she's sick.

She's nearly 3 and is not spayed yet (I havent found a vet without cockroaches running around yet, and i'm not allowing her to have surgery in a dirty place). She's had all her innoculations.

Eventually (probably this time next year) I'll be getting a pet passport for her to travel with me to the UK, so i need to make sure that everything is up to date. She doesn't have a microchip yet (can't find somewhere with a reader...she has a chip, it's just not been implanted).

Don't worm her more often that recommended, because you're risking damaging her nervous system. The aim of therapy isn't to keep her 100% worm free, but simply to knock the load down every now and again so she isn't full of them.

I just had a quick look and it looks as though there are no stockists of this is China http://www.verm-x.com/products/4/dogs.php
However I use it on all my animals Dog /cat /horse. Chemical wormer ( In the same that anti biotics take out ALL of the gut bacteria)
can be quite harsh. One of my ponies has had laminitis and there has been some suggestions of a connection between routine worming and the onset of another bout of laminitis. Therefore I play it safe. I also get a routine worm count done to ensure that the wormers' are effective. If you wanted to go this route can you get someone in the UK to post to you?

On the issue of animals for research "The question is not, 'Can they reason?' nor, 'Can they talk?' but rather, 'Can they suffer?'" Jeremy Bentham

Some instructions will tell you to dose differently depending on the environment that the dog or animal lives at.
I live out in the country and with the exposure of other dogs, sheep etc and a lot of birds to help transfer the culprits.
I used to worm my dogs every 3 months but found that wasn't enough so now its roughly every 2 - 2 1/2 months.
As a general rule if one dog in close proximity and or contact is infested chances are your dog will get them as well if not sufficiently dosed.

She doesn't get contact with other dogs regularly. I'm pretty sure she's the only dog living on campus (she's a celebrity because of that!) so there are no dogs living nearby.

I do always check her poo when i pick it up to make sure that there are no worm fragments or worms in it. It's just when I've been away and she's been staying with other people that i worry.

Her next dose is due in June when i go away for the summer for a couple of months, so I'll check her poo when i get back and see what's going on. It's a bit difficult to go to the neighbourhood dogs at her 'holiday home' and lift their tails

You should be able to buy a chip reader from anywhere, they arent that expensive apparently, £40 springs to mind. Avid was recommended to me [I remember it as I use same name brand on my mountain bike brakes, go figure!!] check with RSPCA/DEFRA or similar.

Good luck with the pet passport, I shipped my dogs back from Texas a few years ago, even my wonderful, highly recommended, internet savvy vet managed to miss a huge chunk of the paperwork and my dogs flight was delayed 48 expensive traumatic hours. Cant really offer any advice, just start early, get the chips asap and document EVERYTHING !

sarahkeast wrote:You should be able to buy a chip reader from anywhere, they arent that expensive apparently, £40 springs to mind. Avid was recommended to me [I remember it as I use same name brand on my mountain bike brakes, go figure!!] check with RSPCA/DEFRA or similar.

Good luck with the pet passport, I shipped my dogs back from Texas a few years ago, even my wonderful, highly recommended, internet savvy vet managed to miss a huge chunk of the paperwork and my dogs flight was delayed 48 expensive traumatic hours. Cant really offer any advice, just start early, get the chips asap and document EVERYTHING !

I've got a chip for her, but it's not implanted. I bought it in the UK, so I know that it's Euro-zone friendly. Getting a chip reader here is a ridiculous price! Last time i looked, they were £170!! So I'll have another look when i'm back in the UK in the summer.

I need to find somewhere that can implant the chip and do the blood testing...that's causing more headaches! There are very very few Euro standard vets here. I think i've found on in Shanghai, so at some point next year, we've got to go there to get the chip sorted out, and get the blood test done. Then I've got to find somewhere to test the blood...

She's due her next round of injections in June, so I'll be taking a trip to Shanghai with her to see a vet there. Wish us luck!